The Historical Development of French Nuclear Regulatory Organizations and the Major Factors in Their Changes

Abstract

At the beginning of the French nuclear history, CEA controlled all the nuclear development including its safety. In 1950s, this situation was changed by the participation of many industrial companies, which means industrialization of nuclear technology. This change became clearer when they adopted PWR in 1970. And so they needed and established a system to make safety regulation by putting the multiple actors’ opinions together. After the accident of Chernobyl, antinuclear public opinion has increased. And in 1997, The Greens obtained the post of the Minister of Ecology. These facts required more independent and transparent regulatory system, so in 1998, a report which proposed to establish a new regulatory organization was published. On the basis of this report, they founded ASN in 2006. From this French history, we can say that as the relationship between nuclear technology and the society changed, the regulatory body also changed to meet the necessity.